FYI:

~Personal Thoughts~

ESP

%The Written Word%

[Flashback]

"Normal Conversation (Duh)"

* Com Link or Telephone *

*Sound Effects (usually just Kurt's bamfing)

{Background noise--music, crowds, etc.}

HYDRA

"Er…guys, is it me? Or is tide coming in?" I looked out over the water that seemed to be moving steadily closer to us. Already a foot of water blocked the exit to the cove and by the time we reached it, it would be impassible. "Now what?"

"There's a cave up the side of that cliff a little ways. We can reach it." Bobby dropped his board and started running towards the cliff face. I ran behind him next to Sam and struggled for a hold on the sheer rock face. It was covered in moss and seaweed making climbing difficult. ~That's not good, that means the water comes up this high.~

Bobby got inside the cave first and watched and helped Sam in then disappeared outta sight. I reached the edge of the cave and Sam helped pull me in. "Shouldn't the water be stopping by now?"

Sam gazed back into the cave and frowned. "Hopefully there's another way outta here." Bobby only shrugged in response.

"Hey, I only saw it man, doesn't mean I know how to get out of it." I looked down at the water that was slowly rising up to us praying it would stop but realized that was a dumb thing to think considering the inside of the cave was also covered in moss and seaweed. I jumped back as the water began to spill into the cave at my feet.

{I can hear heaven, No heaven, no heaven don't hear me here, And they say that a hero could save us, I'm not going to stand here and wait}

~Why am I thinking about some dumb song right now?~ "Not good." The water continued to pour into the cave and I prayed I'd have enough power to hold it back for at least a li'l while. I formed my hands into fists and made a pushing motion. It strained every muscle in my body as I pushed against the force of the ocean tide but it swelled back and I held it out. "A li'l help here would be good."

{I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles, Watch as they all fly away, Someone told me love will all save us, But how can that be?}

"What?!?!" I didn't look back to see what they were doing as sweat began to form on my forehead from the strain.

{Look what love gave us, A world full of killing and blood spilling, That would never have came, And they say that a hero would save us}

"ICE MAN!"

{I'm not going to stand here and wait, I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles, Watch as they all fly away}

"Oh, right." An ice wall began to form and held the water out. I felt dizzy as I let my hands drop and everything went black.

I felt something slapping my face and kept my eyes squeezed shut hoping it wasn't water. ~Duh, it's not that. You can't feel water, it just absorbs into you. Besides, I don't that I can drown now.~ I slowly opened my eyes and stared straight up at Sam and quickly rolled outta his lap so he couldn't see me blush. ~How'd I end up in that position?~

"God, what happened?"

"I think holding back the ocean, was a bit much for you."

"That's a no brainer. So now what?" I sat up and tucked my knees beneath my chin as I looked at the icy wall that had grown dark from the water rising up over it.

"Bobby's checking around. I'll be right back." He stood up and left me to nurse the headache brewing in my temples. I frowned as I continued to watch the wall for any signs of leaking. Luckily there were none.

"I can try, no guarantees though."

"Try what?" I looked up at the two of them who were examining the ceiling to our self made prison.

"Breaking us out." Sam shot up at the ceiling just like a cannonball shot outta a cannon. ~Well, that would explain the name.~ He landed hard on his back side oh so not gracefully and began rubbing his head as well. "Only a few feet he says." ~Bet that hurt more than just the pride.~

"Well, it's a start. You made a crack." Bobby's words clicked and I jumped to my feet.

{And now that the world is at an ending, It's not that I'm standing to you, Is in the love of a hero, And that's why I fear it won't do}

Sam was about to try another shot at the ceiling but I grabbed his arm before he could. "Wait a crack's good enough."

{And they say that a hero would save us, I'm not going to stand here and wait, I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles, Watch as they all fly away}

"Yeah, and the sky's pink. How are we supposed to get out if it's only a crack." I glared at Bobby and he swallowed his sarcastic words whole.

{And they're watching us (they're watching us), They're watching us (watching us) as we all fly away,
And they're watching us (they're watching us), They're watching us (watching us)as we all fly away (yeah)}
"Simple science, Bobby. What does water do when it freezes?"

"Turn into ice, duh." He shrugged his shoulders as he waited for me to let Sam go at it again.

{Yeah and they're watching us (they're watching us), They're watching us (they're watching us) as we all fly away, Yeah yeah whoa whoa}

"That and it expands." I looked up at the crack and thought it through again. "If I go into my water form and enter that crack, then you can freeze me. That should cause the rocks to break apart and fall. Be a lot easier then breaking Sam's skull."

Sam shook his head emphatically. "No way, you'd be stuck frozen and might get hurt when the rocks fall."

"I'll take that chance. If it gets two of you out then that's good enough for me. No point in all of us suffocating." I carefully scaled the wall of the cave and reached out to touch the crack with my right hand. I closed my eyes in concentration and melted into it.

CANNONBALL

I'd pulled Bobby and I away just in time so that we didn't get smashed to smithereens. I covered my eyes for a moment 'til some of the dust cleared and looked at the rubble, then realized I could really see it because there was light pouring down from a hole above. "She did it."

"Yeah, yeah, my hero."

"Seriously, Bobby, she is our hero." I stood up and looked for her but realized I couldn't see her. That's when panic set in. "She must be buried." I moved forward and started moving the rocks aside trying to find her. Eventually Bobby did the same muttering under his breath the whole time.

As I pushed on rock aside, I saw a pale hand and my heart skipped a beat. "Bobby, over here." I moved the rocks away more furiously and was able to reveal her head and upper body. I tried to get a pulse but there was none. "She not breathing or anything."

"That's because she's frozen, dim wit." I frowned as we continued to work until we had completely uncovered her. "She's uncovered, happy now? I'm going." He formed one of his ice slides up out of the whole leaving me alone. I groaned realizing that there was no way I was going to be able to carry her back to the beach. I knelt down and picked her up beneath the arms and shuddered. ~It's like handling a block of ice, literally.~

I shot up through the whole and landed unceremoniously near Bobby. I placed her back down and rubbed my hands together trying to warm them up. "I'm not going to be able to carry her that far. I'll have frost bite."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" I was starting to get tired of his sarcasm and racked my brain for a plan. ~Why couldn't Scott be the one in charge here?~

"You walk back to the beach and get the others to help, I'll stay here." He nodded and started down along the path going off the cliff. In the distance I could see the others still sunning and playing beach volleyball. I sat down next to her stiff form and watched the waves splash up against the cliff face causing a spray up where we were. ~What have I gotten myself into?~

NIGHTCRAWLER

"Come on, ve need more players."

"Like, I'm not going to dive around in the sand, Kurt."

"Vhat about ja, Betsy?"

"Nope, I'm quite comfortable where I am. Why don't you ask Allison, luv?"

"She'z not here. And neizer are Bobby and Sam." Betsy looked up at me surprised.

"Wonder where they went."

"Zey vere surfing earlier." She propped he self up on her elbows and looked out over ze water to see zat zere vas no one surfing any more. Ozer zan ze volleyball game, only Rhane, Jamie and Sarah vere playing frisbee.

"GUYS!" Bobby came running over and bent over double trying to catch his breath. "Al's hurt…frozen…cave…tide coming…trapped."

"Like take a deep breath and like try again, Bobby."

He did so and stood back up fear in hiz eyes. "The tide was coming and we went into this cave. We got trapped and Al saved us, but now she's frozen. She's back there now with Sam." He pointed to ze direction he'd come running from.

"Vhat are ve vaiting for?" I bounded off after Bobby and Kitty and Betsy quickly got up and followed.

"This way." He led us up a steep slope to ze top of a cliff and once we crested ze top ve could see Sam sitting there vith Al's still form. "She hasn't moved a bit. She could be hurt."

"Ve've got to get her back to ze institute." Sam stood up and looked at us.

"You can't carry her back to the beach even. She's too cold." He showed me his hands zat vere a raw red color.

"I'll teleport zen." I picked her up and quickly teleported to ze beach. I nearly dropped her in surprise at how cold she really vas. I rubbed meine hands togezer to try and varm zem back up as Scott came running over.

"What happened?"

"I don't really know. She vas vith Bobby and Sam and somezing happened." I shrugged helplessly not knowing ze whole story myself.

He reached down to touch her then reared back at the coldness. He scratched his head in confusion as he searched for a plan. "We've got to get her back to the institute and quickly."

"Ja, I know." Jean came walking up and rolled her eyes at Scott's struggle. With a wave of her hand she lifted Allison into ze air and walked behind her floating form towards ze vehicles. She placed her into ze bed of her own truck and vaited for Scott to catch up. "I'll drive her back to ze institute."

"That's a good idea, I'll worry about getting the others back then. Jean you go with him." She nodded and got into the front of the truck with me as we rushed back to ze institute.

CANNONBALL

"Like you're still down here?" I looked up at Kitty in the doorway of the med lab weary eyed. "It's been two days. You like need to get some sleep."

"I'm fine."

"Like at least eat something. You like can't blame yourself for what's happened."

"Sure I can. If I would have kept trying or something, she wouldn't be like this." I looked back at Al who was still unconscious. Beast had hooked her up to various machines to track her heart rate and so forth. Everything was slowed and it was as if she was trying to come out of a coma.

"Like that's silly. She volunteered." I shook my head at Kitty's ignorance to the situation.

"Have you seen Bobby?"

"I passed him on my way down here. I thought he just visited." I shook my head confused. She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, try and get some sleep. No offense but you like look horrible."

"Gee thanks." She smiled and waved as she exited. I sat back in the chair and listened to the slow beeping of the heart monitor. ~She should be getting better but she's just staying the same.~ I ran a hand through my hair trying to fight off the sleep that was becoming overwhelming and finally gave in.

HYDRA

I slowly felt my senses kicking in. I could hear a beeping from all around me that was pounding like a hammer to my head. The next thing was I felt a prickling on my wrists. I slowly flexed my fingers and realized that I could now move again. I went to lift my hand to my head and brushed it up against something. I patted what felt like someone's head and stiffened. ~Where am I?~ I cracked open one eye and saw Sam fast asleep using the edge of my bed for a pillow. ~Okay…this is a li'l odd. Where am I and what happened?~ I yanked my hand away hoping I hadn't woken him.

I groaned at the pain that spread through my body when I tried to move into a more comfortable position. "I think I got hit by a Mac truck."

"Close." I looked back at Sam who was awake and rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looked like shit and I was guessing he hadn't slept well for at least two nights. "More like a ton of rock."

I rubbed my head and tried to find some humor in my situation. "Oh, is that it?"

He laughed lightly as he leaned back in his seat. "I guess I should go get Beast and tell him you're awake."

"Ev'ryone's prolly worried, huh?"

"Worried doesn't begin to describe it."

"Screwed up big time." I sighed as I tried moving again and found that it was getting to be slightly less painful. "So what do you make it a habit of watching girls sleep?"

He blushed a brilliant red and shook his head. "No…I was just worried. You weren't waking up and it's been two days…"

"Two Days!" He nodded and I sighed as I leaned my head back. ~God that's a long time.~ I ran a hand through my hair and frowned. "I highly doubt it'd be qualified as beauty sleep."

"Oh thank goodness you're awake." I looked at the door to see a large blue ape-like man. He rushed over to the side of my bed and began checking the instruments. "Hmm…heart rate's still a bit slow. Temperature is also quite low considering." I allowed my gaze to fall onto the instruments and nearly choked when I saw that my temperature was at eighty-eight degrees. ~Ten whole freaking degrees lower than it's supposed to be!~

"That's an understatement." He looked back at me and tried to give me a reasurring smile.

"We'll have to keep you a little longer, Allison. Just to make sure that you're healthy before we can let you go." I sighed in defeat realizing that those ten degrees were going to keep me locked up for a while. "Sam I'll have to ask you to go so Allison can rest some more. You can visit later." Sam nodded and went to the door waving quickly before exiting.

"So how much longer are we talking, doc?"

"A day or two maybe." I gulped and groaned at the prospect of the same white walls for forty-eight hours.

PSYLOCKE

"Like last night, when I went to check on Allison, Sam was still down there. Isn't it like absolutely adorable how he keeps watch over her?" I took another bite of my cereal and tried to ignore Kitty's mindless chatter. ~She's seriously not going to give up on this one is she?~

"I think you're making a bigger deal out of this then it really is, luv."

"Nonsense, I know these things. He totally digs her. Now all we have to do is get her to flirt back some and it's like a done deal." The door opened and Sam entered the kitchen looking slightly ruffled and like he'd just woken up. However he looked excited about something as well.

"Hey Sam, glad to see you're still alive." He grunted something as he started making a bowl of cereal. "I was only teasing, luv. You've been spending so much time in the med lab that no one sees you unless they're going down to check on Al."

"She's awake now." My eyes got wide at the news. It was now Tuesday morning, and had been nearly three days since the incident.

"Like that's great! Can we visit her?" Kitty looked excited at the news as well.

"Yeah, whenever Beast okays it. She's still not quite up to snuff though. Beast says she might have to stay a good bit longer."

"Well, we'll just have to keep her company." I picked up my bowl and dropped it into the sink and rinsed it out. "I'll go get some of her things from our room. That should keep her mind off the med lab some."

I went down to the med lab with one of her photo albums, a book that had a marker in it--Eaters of the Dead, and her portable CD player and case of CDs. "I thought you might like these." She looked down from the ceiling she'd been staring at and smiled.

"Hey Bets. Thanks. I could use something to look at other than this room."

"It's a bit dreary, isn't it?"

"You bet." She looked at the stack of stuff and grinned. "Thanks again."

"So how much longer do you think you'll be down here?"

She looked to the side at a machine and frowned. "At this rate, at least another day." I looked in the same direction and saw that she was looking at her temperature.

"Bobby's good at what he does."

"Is that ever true." She opened the album and glanced at the pictures inside.

"Who are they?"

"My friends from back home." She pointed to a tall muscular blonde boy in a football jersey in one picture. "That's Mark…" She flipped the page and pointed to a girl with long curly dark hair who was also quite tall and wearing a formal gown. "…and that's Kelly. These pictures are from the homecoming dance."

"Where are you?"

"I didn't go." I looked at her surprised.

"Why not?"

"Something about a football player in a dress just doesn't seem quite right." She laughed as she closed the album. "Thanks again."

"No problem. Well, I'll let you rest."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The song I used was Nickleback's Hero.